The Last Trip

After tonight I think I'll not go up to the corner for awhile. Got ready to
go today and left at 4:30pm, got up there by about 6:45pm and set up. The
moon came over the roof by 8:20 and just as it did clear the building a car
pulled into the lot, that in itself was not anything special, BUT what was
special was it was draging cans, done up in ribbons and had "JUST MARRIED"
on back window ( with "SUCKER" under that ). The Bride and groom got out and
came over and took a look at the moon. They said they had planed for the
Full Moon, ( I didn't have the hart to tell them it wasn't full yet ).

Now how many Sidewalk Astronomers have had that happen?

The rest of the night was dead, only a kid or two stopped and looked. So
just before 10 I packed up and headed home. I had gotten a soda pop and had
gotten as far as the church that's a block down 20th ST and I stopped there
under the street light to open the soda, as it poped open a light beam hit
me, cops where sitting in the dark watching and they where checking to see
if I had a beer. They stayed in the dark, but I know who they are by sight
and voice and the oldest one said, ya your the guy been sitting on the
sidewalk for some years, I said yep, over 6 and he says ya, your down at 470
20th, BUT he couldn't remember my name. Did they offer a ride maybe? HaHaHA,
not in a 100 years.

I wish they had been down the road, as just after passing the 3/4 mark 3
cars came speeding past, 1st one fliped a lite coffen nail out the window at
me, the other two cars came flashing by and beer cans came sailing out, but
none of them had an aim worth sh*t. So I picked up the cans, dumping what
was left and put'm in my can bag I have on the wagon.

All the way down 20th I could see some bright lights I'd not seen before,
couldn't figure them out at first, then it hit, the AV Fair down in
Lancaster at the new fair grounds, where I had planned to set up at night
with my scope, but the beast saw to that not happening.

So I think if I set up, it'll be down here by the road side just outside the
parks driveway if at all. Draging that wagon has got my bad elbow to hurting
along with my knees, time to take a rest for awhile.



--


"And for the second time in four million years, the monolith awoke."
Arthur C.Clarke 2062dyssey three

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.netfirms.com/



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After tonight I think I'll not go up to the corner for awhile.


Hi Dennis:

Think very seriously about getting the heck out of California, as Dwight and I
suggested. You could live better almost anywhere in the South or Midwest.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

Rod Mollise wrote:
After tonight I think I'll not go up to the corner for awhile.



Hi Dennis:

Think very seriously about getting the heck out of California, as Dwight and I
suggested. You could live better almost anywhere in the South or Midwest.


I live in CA, have been to Rosamond, TN and AL -- and I agree.

Phil

Even if I wanted to move, there would be a major road block to doing it.

1. No car to pull a u-haul with

2. u-haul cost major $$$

3. No place lined up anywhere where I could bring my cats and my garden too.

As I said once, if I did look to move, I would limit it to Az, Nv, Or., NM.


--


"And for the second time in four million years, the monolith awoke."
Arthur C.Clarke 2062dyssey three

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.netfirms.com/

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...
Hi Dennis:

Think very seriously about getting the heck out of California, as Dwight
and I
suggested. You could live better almost anywhere in the South or Midwest.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html


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But Rod, SoCal is a hotbed of astronomical activity!
We have some really dark sites, too.
We have many clear nights.
Steady air, too.

The only place with better seeing is Arizona.

Matthew Ota

Rod Mollise wrote:

After tonight I think I'll not go up to the corner for awhile.



Hi Dennis:

Think very seriously about getting the heck out of California, as Dwight and I
suggested. You could live better almost anywhere in the South or Midwest.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 23:33:46 GMT, Matthew Ota
wrote:

But Rod, SoCal is a hotbed of astronomical activity!
We have some really dark sites, too.
We have many clear nights.
Steady air, too.

The only place with better seeing is Arizona.

Matthew, I must disagree. I've observed all over AZ, from the North
Rim to Yuma to Tuscon, and the mountains N/E of Tuscon. For seeing
(not transparency), I'll take good old Mt. Wilson anytime, and a host
of other SoCal sites are in second place.

IMHO, AZ seeing is largely a myth. Excellent dark skies (in the right
season), but way too much upper-air turbulence.

YMMV...

Wayne Hoffman
33° 49" 17' N 117° 56" 41' W
"Don't Look Down"

http://users.adelphia.net/~w6wlr/

"WayneH" wrote

IMHO, AZ seeing is largely a myth. Excellent dark skies (in the right
season), but way too much upper-air turbulence.

It's not a myth. In town it's not bad; on Mt.Hopkins (8550') we have data:
an average of about 0.7 arcsec.

Howard Lester
Tucson




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Matthew Ota wrote in message ...
But Rod, SoCal is a hotbed of astronomical activity!
We have some really dark sites, too.
We have many clear nights.
Steady air, too.



HI Matthew:

I think CA is a _wonderful_ place to live..._if_ you can afford it. ;-)

Peace,
Rod

Howard Lester wrote:

"WayneH" wrote

IMHO, AZ seeing is largely a myth. Excellent dark skies (in the right
season), but way too much upper-air turbulence.

It's not a myth. In town it's not bad; on Mt.Hopkins (8550') we have data:
an average of about 0.7 arcsec.

Howard Lester
Tucson

And it's more widespread than we used to think. Even maligned Kitt Peak
has several telescopes that routinely deliver 0.7-0.9" images. Hey,
if the 4-meter built on a giant pile of thermally-retentive
material 30 years ago can do it, the site seeing must be good...

Howard may differ, but I contend the biggest lesson astronomers
learned from the MMT was not how to combine beams from multiple
mirrors, but how thoroughly we'd been shooting ourselves in the
feet with telescope and enclosure designs that created bad seeing.

Bill Keel

"William C. Keel" wrote

Howard may differ, but I contend the biggest lesson astronomers
learned from the MMT was not how to combine beams from multiple
mirrors, but how thoroughly we'd been shooting ourselves in the
feet with telescope and enclosure designs that created bad seeing.

Bill Keel

Hi Bill,

No, I don't differ at all! In the early 80's, when I/we first learned of our
relatively exceptional seeing, I commented to our chief engineer that I bet
it has a lot to do with the open box design, rather than the usual narrow
dome slit. In fact, in the mid-80's we opened up the back of the building
and installed louvers for even more evenly distributed air circulation.

Another 'trick' we learned is wrapping every member of the optics support
structure with 3M aluminum tape to suppress their nighttime heat radiation.

Howard